SEOUL, South Korea — North Korea warned Tuesday that foreigners in South Korea should look for shelter or consider evacuating because the Korean Peninsula was on the brink of nuclear war. But the South Korean president, Park Geun-hye, said she remained determined not to succumb to the North’s efforts to escalate tensions to extract concessions from the South.

The North’s warning followed a similar advisory last week in which it told foreign embassies in the North Korean capital, Pyongyang, to devise evacuation plans.

In Washington, Adm. Samuel Locklear, commander of U.S. Pacific Command, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that U.S. defenses could intercept a ballistic missile launched by North Korea.

The admiral said Pyongyang’s pursuit of nuclear weapons and long-range ballistic missiles represents a clear threat to the United States and its allies in the region.

During an exchange with Sen. John McCain, R-Ariz., Locklear said the U.S. military has the capability to thwart a North Korean strike, but he said a decision on whether a missile should be intercepted should be based on where it is aimed and expected to land.

“I believe we have the ability to defend the homeland, Guam, Hawaii and defend our allies,” said Locklear.

In South Korea, where people have long grown used to a North Korean bluster or learned to shut themselves off from a situation out of their control, there were few if any signs of anxiety after the warning. The U.S. Embassy in Seoul said the State Department’s travel notice on South Korea remained unchanged Tuesday.

The Korea Tourism Organization said the latest torrent of North Korean threats has so far had little effect on tourism, with the number of Chinese tourists doubling during a vacation week last week. Still, it was taking precautionary measures reaching out to foreign tourist agencies to inform them that it was safe to visit South Korea.

South Korean officials and analysts said North Korea was extremely unlikely to start a war.

Rather, they said, its warning was psychological warfare aimed at heightening a sense of crisis to rattle investors’ confidence in the South’s globalized economy and force Washington and its allies to return to the negotiating table. In that vein, the North may launch a medium-range missile this week, they said.

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